The inspector's ascent: the first year of Georgy Sudeikin's gendarme service in Kiev

The fight of Russian autocracy against revolutionary movement at the turn of the 20th century was impossible without the increased role of Russian political police. The underground revolutionary movement changed the system of operation of political police. G.P. Sudeikin was one of those who initiated new practices in the sphere of political search. He supported the introduction of new methods of surveillance of people suspected of anti-government activities, and, most importantly, he was a great champion of using provocation in the fight against the underground revolutionary movement. He first tried all these methods against “The Executive Committee of the Russian revolutionary party” in Kiev, which was successful, resulting in its almost utter annihilation. On the basis of previously unknown archival documents the article reconstructs the activities of Gendarme Officer Sudeikin in 1878-1879 in Kiev. This particular example is used to analyze the work mechanism of gendarme institutions. The emphasis is made on the motives underlying Sudeikin’s activities. The author comes to the conclusion that, despite a considerable success in his fight against revolutionaries during his Kiev period, Sudeikin appears to be a cynical and ambitious careerist, rather than a loyal servant to the Throne. He used the immoral principle of provocation for the achievement of his own career aims, in the first place. Finally, he himself fell victim to it. Eventually, provocation as a method of fighting against the revolutionaries as well as the entire “white terror” of the government failed to save the Russian monarchy from political collapse.